00:00Welcome back to Patrick Christie's tonight and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex explored changing their family name to Spencer amid fears that the King and the Home Office were deliberately blocking their children's passport applications.
00:14Astonishing allegations, this is from Harry and Meghan.
00:16They applied for new passports using the surname Sussex, but were met with excuses and delays.
00:22Anyway, they said they should have got the passport within weeks.
00:25A source close to Harry and Meghan told The Guardian, obviously, that the couple believed the applications were being deliberately blocked because the King didn't want Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet to use the royal titles.
00:38But after lawyers for the Sussexes sent a letter threatening to pursue a data subject access request, which would have revealed details about this delay, they say they were miraculously issued with a passport.
00:51Well, I'm joined now by the editor at large of the Mail on Sunday, Charlotte Griffith.
00:54Charlotte, thank you very much. Tremendous to have you on.
00:56This is a really astonishing allegation by Harry and Meghan.
00:59Yes, and I have to say, the sources close to Harry and Meghan are a little bit confused because they say two things.
01:05One, that they think the passport was blocked because of the HRH title, and two, because they were using the name Sussex.
01:11But Archie and Lily's surname is Mountbatten-Windsor, so that might have caused a delay in itself because they'd suddenly changed the surname.
01:17And second of all, it's my understanding that they applied for this passport before the Queen had died.
01:25It wasn't until Charles became King that the Archie and Lily Beck can use the titles HRH.
01:30Right.
01:31Because you have to be the grandchild of the monarch.
01:33So they were applying before they could lose the HRH title.
01:37So that's where the delay came from, in my opinion.
01:39To gratuitously accuse the King of something like this is really, really surprising.
01:46But can I just play a little video of this?
01:49Because this was released earlier today, and it's Meghan Markle and, as you'll see, Prince Harry,
01:56shortly before the birth, I think, of Lilibet, their first child.
02:01Let's have a look at this.
02:02Let's have a look at this.
02:32Right.
02:32Oh.
02:33OK.
02:33Now, you've got some views on this about the bump.
02:36Well, actually, you cut it off slightly before the end.
02:38It gets more and more kind of raunchy towards the end.
02:42She really drops down to the floor.
02:44And, I don't know, I've had three babies.
02:46I could not do that with anyone if I was just about to give birth.
02:50I mean, it's an extraordinary, extraordinary jaw-dropping video.
02:54I mean, the internet is going insane for it.
02:56Because, you know, part of this HRH debate is about the King, you know, them perceiving that the King didn't want to give Archie and Lily an HRH title.
03:04Now, there might be some reason why.
03:07I mean, maybe the King was worried that videos like this would be embarrassing for the monarchy.
03:12And you don't want an HRH growing up with videos like this circulating around them.
03:16It's just extraordinary.
03:18It's just so undignified for a royal.
03:19People were saying, look, this is a tick...
03:20I wasn't mistaken, I'm blissfully unaware of this.
03:23But, apparently, this was a TikTok trend and that this is the kind of thing that people were doing.
03:28But, I don't know, I just thought there was something about that video that just looks a little bit strange to me there.
03:34Well, I mean, it's her second birth, but she didn't seem at all anxious about giving birth.
03:38I mean, she clearly hadn't had an epidural because she could use her legs and stand up.
03:42You're about to find this out when you have a baby soon.
03:43Yeah, well, yes.
03:46Hopefully not directly.
03:47They do say you should try and keep it light and keep your sense of humour going as you're giving birth because the endorphins are good.
03:54I just thought, something doesn't sit right about this video, I've got to say.
03:58But, again, though, in the pursuit of privacy, they have released a video from one of the most private, intimate things that a couple can go through,
04:07which is waiting very, very shortly before the birth of one of your children, you know, to then share all of that out.
04:13And also, it is, as you said there, you know, quite raunchy dancing as well.
04:17It just seems odd for a couple that are obsessed with their privacy.
04:20Totally.
04:21The moments before you have a baby, as you're about to find out, you know, a husband and wife, it's like the most private time ever.
04:27You know, it's just the two of you battling against this thing that's about to happen, which, by the way, is not very comfortable.
04:32Right.
04:32And it's a really kind of intimate moment.
04:35You know, it's kind of nice that they filmed a video, but to release it to the world, having campaigned on their worldwide privacy tool for the last five years,
04:42I honestly, I'm absolutely gobsmacked.
04:44I thought it was AI at first.
04:45I could not believe it.
04:46And I thought I'd seen it all with these two.
04:48So, just to bring us back to where we started with this, then, in terms of this passport issue,
04:52they say that they went to submit a data subject access request or whatever it is,
04:56which I think would reveal all of the discussions between, say, the palace and maybe the home office or whoever it is,
05:03and that that could have been quite embarrassing and incriminating.
05:06So, they just got the passport.
05:08You just don't buy that.
05:09I don't particularly buy it.
05:10I mean, they said they have this insufferable 13, no, 12-week long wait.
05:14Now, at the time, waits were at least 10 weeks anyway because there had been COVID and then everyone was applying for passports after COVID.
05:22It was a few years ago, don't forget.
05:24Plus, the added complication that they put the wrong surname on and the HRH before the kids were entitled to an HRH.
05:30So, that would have actually caused quite a lot of confusion.
05:32The passport office probably would have had to write to Buckingham Palace.
05:36And Buckingham Palace have denied that they blocked it in any way.
05:40They are already...
05:40Well, there was a story, I believe, in your fabulous newspaper over the weekend,
05:43which was that, you know, Harry had explored changing his surname to Spencer,
05:46and now he's maybe tried to hit back with this.
05:49But, Charlotte, thank you very much.
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